Outgoing Tennessee governor Bill Lee has paused executions in the state to call for a review after the botched execution of Christa Pike.Lee, who is a strong advocate for the death penalty, has said that there must now be a review of executions carried out in the state after Pike’s became the latest in a series of executions where the condemned person survived.It came four months after Tennessee failed to execute triple murderer Tony Carruthers, abandoning the attempt after trying for more than an hour to find a vein for the backup IV line, a requirement under state protocol.Governor Lee, who is set to stand down in January after eight years in post, granted Carruthers a temporary one-year reprieve.Executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) Robin Maher told Sky News that while seven other people have had their lethal injection executions abandoned over failure to find a vein, Pike is the first to survive after having been administered the drugs.

In a statement, Lee said: “Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective.”Gary Wayne Sutton, 61, was the only other person Tennessee was set to execute in 2026. He was sentenced to death alongside his uncle for the murder of Tommy Griffin, 24, and Griffin’s sister, 34, in 1992.Sutton’s scheduled 3 December lethal injection has now been postponed pending a ‘comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred’.A statement issued by the Tennessee Department of Correction said that they ‘followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.’Christa Pike survived an attempted execution which was carried out on September 30, after exhausting all the legal options available to her, including appeals to the Supreme Court and the governor’s office.